Mortgage lending hits three-year high

Mortgage approvals for house purchases also hit a near three-year high of 128,000 – the highest since December 2003 and far above the long-term average of 97,000. Milan Khatri, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), says the rise in mortgage approvals highlights the extent of the housing market upturn this year, with increasing signs of strength throughout the country. Khatri adds: “Rising property sales are not just limited to the central London housing market with RICS members reporting that transactions are evident across most regions, due to the bene...